Improvement in machines for pointing skewers



UNITED STATES PATENT Finca.

LEANDER vv. BOYNTON, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR POINTING SKEWERS.

Specification forming part oi'Iietters Patent No. 53,108, dated March 13, 1866.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, LEANDER W. BOYNTON, of the city and county of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Machinery for Counting and Pointing Skewers, Src.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe construction, character, and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the whole machine ready for use. Fig. 2 is a section of the same cut vertically through the center at right angles to the.cuttershaft, showing the relative positions of the several parts. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the cutter-shaft with one form of cutters for sharpening the skewers and cutting them apart. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the cutter-shaft with a different form and arrangement of cutters for the same purpose, and also showing a pair of circular saws for cutting oftl the outer ends of the stick, so that all the skewers maybe of the same length. Fig. 5 is a section of Fig. 4 cut at right angles to the shaft through the cutters.

My improvement consists in making the machine with a grooved cylinder to receive and count the sticks and to convey them away'to be pointed, and in an apparatus for pointing the sticks 'or skewers, and in fitting a reservoir to receive the finished skewers as they` come from the pointing apparatus and retain them till the count is completed, when it will discharge them into a trough, where, by the operation of hooks worked by treadles, they are. held ready for tying up'in bundles ready for'packing for market.

I make the frame of cast-iron or any other lsuitable material, substantially in the form v shown at A A', &c., and indicated in part in Fig. 2. I makethe grooved receiving an d counting cylinder of cast-iron, or any other suitable' 'materiah in the form indicated at B, Fig. 2, andas shown in its position at B, Fig. 1. I

shown at ct, Fig. 2; and I make each groovew of sufficient capacity to receive and carry one stick suitable to make two skewers, and when I intend to put them up in bundles ot' one hundred each I make about ninety-five grooves; and I have the journals of its arbor or axis b, Fig. 2, work in suitable bearings, (one end ot' its arbor extending to b, Fig. l.) Above this grooved or counting cylinder I fit a suitable receiver or hopper, as shown at C, Fig. l, and indicated in section at C, Fig. 2, (which I support with standards, one of which is shown at 0,) to receive the sticks (twice the length of the skewers) and deliver the-m into the grooves in the grooved cylinder; and along the inner lower corner of this receiver or hopper I t a small roller, as shown at d, Fig. l, and indicated in section at d, Fig. 2, which I revolve by means ot' a crossed belt, e, Fig. 1, or otherwise, to prevent any stick rising out ot' the Aits upper surface concave to form thelower portion of the shell of the pointing apparatus, to which I attach two flat springs to pass upward onto the smooth portion ot' the periphery at each end of the grooved cylinder, one of which is shown at f, Fig. 2, to raise the sticks ont of the grooves and guide them into the shell. I support this block D or lower part of the shell bytwo adj usting-screws, one of which is shown at g g', on each of which I place a nut,

as shown at'h, below the bed-plate A', and another above the bed-plate, which is omitted in the drawings to show the screw at g, Fig. 2, by means of which I elevate or depress the block D, so as to adj ust the concave surface to the belts, cutters, 85o., above it.

.I make the cutter-shaft of cast-steel or any other suitable material, substantially of the shape or form shown in Fig. 3, and its central part through the cutters indicated in crosssection at E, Fig. 2, or I make the cutter-shaft substantially ofthe form shown in Fig. 4, and in cross-section cut through the cutters in Fig.

5, making one cutter, lt, Figs. 4 and, to cut t form and arrangement of the cutters than that shown in Fig. 3, and at the proper distance from the cutters to suit the length of the skewers I iit two circular saws, z and z, Fig. 4, for the purpose of cutting off the ends of the sticks, so .that all ot' the skewers may be of the same length. I suspend this ci`ttershaft in suitable bearings, as indicated ly its iournals atj andj, Figs. 3 and 4, and j, Fig. 1.

I make the cutters of cast'steel, sult'stalt tially of the sha-pe shown at 7c and k in Fig. 3 or in Fig. 4, and I secure them to the shaft by means of binding-screws inserted in slots, as indicated at 7c', Fig. 3, or at k and lc in Fig. 4, Fig. 4 being deemed preferable.

I make two short hollow cylinders or hoops, as shown at I and I, Fig. 1, and indicated in section at l, Fig. 2, of much larger caliber, so as to work loosely around the cutter-shaft, and have each of them worked by a belt', as F and F, Fig.` 1, and as shown in section in Fig. 2, where they work within the concave surface of the block D, so near that the belts F and F will press upon and roll the sticks to theposition where the cutters lc and k', Figs. 3 or` 4, will sharpen and separate them.

Above the two hollow cylinders or hoops I place an adjustable cap-piece, as Gr G, Fig. 1, and G, Fig. 2, in the under side of which I make a longitudinal semicircular space in l which the cylinders or hoops work, as shown in section in Fig. 2, and in the central part of it I iit a suitable block or guide, as H, Fig. 2, to steady the cylinders l and Z in their places. l secure this cap-piece Gr G by means of four upright screw-bolts or pillars, three of which are shown atm m and m, Fig. 1, which I secure antl adjust by nuts, as n n, Sto., placed above and below the cap-piece, and under each of the upper nuts, u u, &c., I place a piece of indiarubber, as indicated at o o, 85e., to` allow a slight yielding of the cap-piece when necessary. On each side of this cap-piece I fit a small roller, asp and p, Figs. 1 and 2, to keep the belts F and IF in their proper position to operate on the skewer-sticks to revolve and carry them, as before described. Above this cap-piece G G, I lit an arbor or shaft, q, which l support in adjustable bearings, as shown at r and r, Fig. 1. This shaft is to be driven by the main power with a belt on the pulley K, which `will revolve the two pulleys Land L, which carry the belts F and F, and on the same arbor, g, I fit a smallpulley, M, which, by means of the crossed belt e, revolves the roller el, and by means of the crossed belt e', running on the shaft at q, and the wheel or disk W, revolves the grooved cylinder B.`

In the lower part of the frame I 4t a shaft, N, Figs. 1 and 2, which carries a driving-pulley, (indicated at P, Fig. 2,) and a pulley, B, on which the belt S, Figs. l and 2, works to revolve the cutter-shaft, as indicated at fi, Fig. 1. On the side opposite the grooved cylinder B,

I iit a triangular receiver, as T, Figs. l and 2, of sufficient length to receive two ler gths of the skewers as they come from the pointing apparatus, and of sufficient capacity to contain about one hundred skewers in` each length', so that it will receive all that the grooved cylintler B will bring forward by one revolution; and when this receiver is thus full a `pin or projection on the inner side or surface of the wheel or disk W, which is not seen,bnt its position is indicated by dots at s, will depress the inner end of the vibratory lever t, and raise the lower edge of the swinging front pieceV sufciently to discharge all of the skewers into the trough U, when the sprin g c will instantly close the swinging front V to receive more, and the two hooks w and w may be brought down by the two treadles y and y, to hold the skewers close while tying up the bundles for lnarket, &c. l

Having made and arranged the several parts as before described, I put the machine in motion by means of one driving-belt on the pulley K, Fig. l, and another on the pulley indicated at P,Fig. 2, and having the sticksprepared (by a machine described in another application) I feed th em into the receiver G, Figs. l and 2, by their own gravity. By the motion (in the direction indicated by the dart) of the grooved cylinder B and the opposite revolving of the small roller d5, one stick will fall into each groove, and will be carried onward until the dat springs f, Fig. 2, lift the sticks out of the grooves, when the belts F F will roll the sticks along on the concave surface of the block D, and the cutters 7c and k', Figs. 3 or 4, by striking the central part of each stick,will taperit down to two points and cut it apart in the middle, so asto make two sharpened and completely finished skewers, and the belts Fand F will continue to roll theflnished skewers on the concave bed or shell until they'fall over into the reservoir or receptacle T; and whenthe blank part a. of the grooved cylinder B (where `it will not deliver any` sticks) arrives at the block 'D the pin (whose locality is indicated by the dots at s on the wheel or diskW) will strike the inner end of the vibratinglever t and swing out the loweredge of the front piece,V, of the reservoir orreceptacle T and discharge the finished skewers into the trough U, when, by pressing down the pedals y andy, the hooks 'w andlw will hold the two bundles of skewers ina position to be tied up with twine or otherwise 5 and when so tied up I insertsome ve or six skewers into each bundle to tighten the ligature, when the bundles will be ready to be packed for market.

. For pointing long-skewersI make the machine single, or substantially 1like one-halfof that before described, as though it was cut `through the center, as represented-in Fig. 2,

butmaking each partlperfect in itself', and of `sufficient length to receive, convey, point,land

deliver one skewer, pointed atfone end, ofthe desired length, in which case I may make the one short cylinder l solid, and I may it it on a shaft, so that I may dispense with the upper,

portion, G, ofthe concave shell. and the pulley L and belt F, as these parts will not be needed in the same Way in the single as in the double.

machine, as first described.

I claim- The cutters 7c and lc,1*`igs.3 or 4, in cour 

